More choice in VR headsets: Meta opens up its operating system

The closed Metaverse is over: On Monday evening, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Instagram that he wanted to open up the "Meta Horizon OS" platform to other hardware suppliers. To this end, Meta has already entered into a partnership with Asus and Lenovo. This has advantages for users - but also disadvantages.

XR ecosystems have been closely guarded so far

Virtual and mixed reality, or XR for short, are still a marginal phenomenon. No headset has yet achieved a major breakthrough. This could also be due to the closed ecosystems: Each supplier only allows their own hardware in their system. Users of other systems have no access. This limits the options and reduces the incentive to opt for one of the headsets. The manufacturers know this too. Sony announced in February that it was working on a way to use the PS VR2 on a PC as well.

Meta is also opening up its platform. Hardware suppliers will now be able to develop their own headsets with the "Meta Horizon OS" operating system for a licence fee. This means that in future, a Quest headset will no longer necessarily be required to use Meta's services. In addition to the app library, this also includes the friends list. However, it is still very unlikely that you will be able to access the Oculus library with the headset from competitors Sony and Apple.

Headsets for different purposes

Zuckerberg also announced a partnership with Lenovo and Asus. The two hardware giants will be the first third-party manufacturers to develop headsets for "Meta Horizon OS". According to Zuckerberg's vision, these should not necessarily be in competition with the Quest 3.

Headsets that are specially designed for watching videos or films are conceivable, for example. Or headsets for employees working on a PC with a focus on virtual screens and keyboards, or devices for fitness exercises with sweat-resistant materials. Or a headset that comes with an Xbox controller and can be used as a portable Xbox including a virtual screen. Meta already announced a cooperation with Microsoft last October: two-dimensional Xbox games can be played on the Quest headsets. Until now, however, playing two-dimensional Xbox games on a VR headset with pass-through mode and sophisticated motion tracking has not been considered very useful.

What is Meta trying to achieve with this move?

The aim of Meta is probably to become for VR and MR headsets what Windows is for PCs: the standard operating system. If this step succeeds, Meta could secure a large market share and hold its own against the competition from Apple. Its Vision Pro headset caused a lot of hype when it was released.

For users, the opening up of "Meta's Horizon OS" means more choice in terms of hardware. In the medium term, it could lead to XR headsets finally achieving a major breakthrough in society - with Meta as the market leader at the forefront. Meta has been pursuing this goal since the company (then still Facebook) acquired Oculus in 2014.

The potential disadvantage of a large XR ecosystem under the Meta flag is exactly the same as with its social media platforms: The group, with its subsidiaries Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Oculus, often comes under fire for abusing its market power as well as its handling of data protection. <p